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Browns’ choices are interesting, not better

Vince Guerrieri
Published 6:49 a.m. ET May 9, 2014

CLOSE

Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel gestures as he walks across the stage after being selected No. 22 overall in the first round of Thursday’s NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
(Photo:
Brad Penner/USA TODAY
)

The Browns’ pick of Johnny Manziel in the first round will make football in Cleveland a lot more interesting.

Notice I didn’t say better.

The Browns used their second pick in the first round — acquired from the Colts for Trent Richardson — to pick Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner who, according to fans and media in Cleveland, can cure cancer and bring peace to Ukraine. The Browns have been in the market for a quarterback since the last Heisman winner to play for them, Vinny Testaverde.

The Browns have spent four first-round picks in their history on quarterbacks — three since their return in 1999. The Browns’ first draft pick in 1999 was Tim Couch. And in an ominous coincidence, Brady Quinn in 2007 and Brandon Weeden in 2012, like Manziel, were both picks at 22 for the Browns — and both were the team’s second picks in the first round. In 2007, the Browns drafted perpetual all-pro Joe Thomas with their first pick.

In 2012, Mike Holmgren traded up to get Richardson, after he couldn’t trade up to get Robert Griffin III.

In fact, the best endorsement for Manziel might be that Mike Holmgren — who thought drafting a 28-year-old rookie was a great idea — thought he was too much of a risk.

The other Browns quarterback that was a first-round draft pick? Mike Phipps, whose name still causes mothers to wash their childrens’ mouths out with soap when they say it.

The Browns needed a quarterback. Brian Hoyer is right in thinking the job is his to lose, but that’s almost by default. In a very small sample size, the hometown boy — he’s a North Olmsted native who played high school football at St. Ignatius — proved to be a capable starter, and a marked improvement over Weeden. But nobody who’s really honest with themselves believes that Hoyer, at 28 with a reconstructed knee after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament last year, is the long-term solution.

Manziel, a polarizing and electrifying player at Texas A&M, might be, but Hoyer’s presence gives him the best possible situation. He can spend time watching Hoyer as he tries to transition into the pro game. This is a thin class for quarterbacks ready to play in the NFL. Blake Bortles of the University of Central Florida was the first quarterback to go in the draft, third to the Jaguars. Manziel remained on the board as the night wore on — as did Teddy Bridgewater, who was eyed by the Browns’ previous regime.

Former Browns CEO Joe Banner commissioned a $100,000 study to find the best quarterback coming out in this year’s draft. The independent study settled on Bridgewater. As is usually the case, it’s not the money — Jimmy Haslam’s probably spent more on legal bills this week — but the principle. The Browns had no talent inside the organization capable of that kind of evaluation? (Don’t answer that. It was a rhetorical question.)

The Manziel acquisition was the latest in a flurry of activity on the first day of the draft for new Browns General Manager Ray Farmer, who apparently has structured his contract so he gets paid by the transaction. Because the Browns were dreadful last year — in no small part because of the fact the Browns punted on that draft — they held the fourth overall pick.

The Browns traded that pick to Buffalo, who used it to draft Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins. In return, the Browns — who have been looking to the future since their return in 1999, because their present stinks — got the Bills’ first pick this year, and their first- and fourth-round picks next year.

With the Browns sitting on the ninth pick, they then swapped their fifth-round pick to move up one spot to draft Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert. He’ll be expected to form a tandem with Joe Haden — and ensure Browns fans can stop cursing Buster Skrine’s name. The Browns then dealt a third-round pick to Philadelphia to move up from 26 to 22 to snag Johnny Football.

So the Browns have filled their most pressing need and added to the secondary — and have six more draft picks for the remaining two days of the draft.

That’s what passes for a win in Cleveland.

And if it goes wrong? At least they’ll have two first-round draft picks next year.

Vince Guerrieri is a former sports editor and Cleveland-based correspondent for the Media Network of Central Ohio.